Bibby Marine Services has ordered a new walk-to-work service operation vessel (SOV) for the offshore wind market and has already secured a charter for the ship from Siemens Gamesa.
Damen Shipyards Galati in Romania – the same yard which built the Bibby Wavemaster 1 SOV in 2016 – has started work on the vessel, which will be delivered in mid-2019, Bibby said.
The unnamed vessel will be used to service Siemens Gamesa turbines at EnBW’s 497MW Hohe See and 119MW Albatros projects in the German North Sea.
It will work out of a Siemens Gamesa offshore service facility at the German port of Emden. The length of the charter was not disclosed.
Dutch Bank ABN AMRO financed the new vessel build, Bibby said.